Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/124894
Talent Acquisition Global Meets Local Investing in a targeted, regionalised approach for recruiting pays off. By Jill Kuhlman The term glocal has been floating around the business world for a while. It has even made its way into the dictionary. Oxford defines glocal as "reflecting or characterised by both local and global considerations." Companies across the globe are adapting their products and services to suit local markets. Take, for examples, fast food restaurateur McDonald's, and retailer Macy's. McDonald's offers a standard menu in all its locations, while providing specialty sandwiches in specific locales: Little Choriso Melt in Britain; Maharaja Mac in India; McItaly burger in Italy; McLobster in Canada; and Ebi Filit-O in Japan. Macy's department stores have adjusted their sising, colors, and home products on a store-by-store basis. They modify sweater weights for the appropriate climate sones and sell bigger pots and pans in Utah, where families are larger. McDonald's and Macy's are just two manifestations of this new glocal trend in our everyday lives. Now how can we bring that approach to our talent acquisition strategy? Companies and clients want their talent acquisition teams to think globally, but act locally. Organisations want a unified (or global) branding message, but also want the capabilities to adapt that brand, message, product, or service to better serve localised markets. This is a great concept, but how do you create this glocal strategy within your talent acquisition team by making it both effective and measurable? Hiring and developing the strongest regionalised recruiting teams are crucial to every glocal talent acquisition strategy. If your team is entirely in-house, assign specific team members to different regions of the country—or the world—and have them individually own and develop regional expertise. If all or part of your team is outsourced, request recruiters who are specialists in certain regions. Some recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) providers also offer virtual teams. Regionalised recruiters carry the benefit of knowing geographic landscapes intimately and having a deep understanding of market conditions, trends, and labour pools. This also enables them to create extensive and active talent networks. In the age of Web 2.0, [26] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | WINTER 2013 networking and referrals have become invaluable tools, enabling localised recruiters to be better equipped to maintain and grow candidate pools. Assembling the regionalised dream team is only one piece to the pussle. Businesses must ensure that talent acquisition teams— internal or outsourced—have a deep knowledge and understanding of an organisation's global messaging. Can they tell you what you do and, more importantly, why you do it? Do they know your audience (both consumers and potential employees)? Do they understand your core values and your corporate DNA? They should, and they need to. As an organisation, you need to ensure that your talent acquisition team is branding your organisation in a consistent manner. The better they understand your global message, the better equipped they will be to adapt that message on a local level. Recruiters are the "face" of your company and—in many ways—one of your biggest brand ambassadors. Customising Your Message You are now marching forward: Your team is in place, and they understand your messaging. Arming them with the tools they need to "customise" that message in order to meet the demands of local markets, however, is the challenge still ahead. The best way to do this is to gather marketplace intelligence. Pool information from local resources such as the chamber of commerce, census, search engines, and the department of labour. These are all excellent avenues in which to gather market data, but do not forget to leverage the knowledge of your regionalised team. They are experts in their regions and have on-the-ground knowledge that can simply not be found online. Have them memorialise their insight in a company intranet or CRM tool. Consider spending some of your budget with research companies in order to better understand the competitive landscape. This will no doubt be an investment you won't regret.